Here it is- the second (successful) painting of 2023!
16x20, oil on canvas
I tackled a smaller canvas of lavender about a week ago and that did not work out. I'll put some pictures below in case you are as morbidly curious as I am.
Every new painting is an experiment and a risk. It's exciting but also frustrating, because it's hard to know when to stop. Sometimes if I push through everything comes together in the end, and sometimes it never comes together and it just feels like wasted hours and paint.
But I know it's never really a waste. We learn more from our failures, so the saying goes.
Here's the little one that paved the way for the bigger canvas. You can see how promising it started out. I fell in love with that muddy background- I've been trying to add more transitional colors to my work and I was proud of myself for letting it stay loose.
Things started to turn here. I wanted to add more details but the thick texture of the canvas was making it difficult. I'd re-painted this particular one so much that the thick surface started to hide any detail I wanted to add.
And then this happened! I was thinking I'd have more contrast by tossing in some yellow but it got out of hand pretty fast. I often wonder if I should just start over or if the painting really could be wonderful, I just don't have the skills to fix it yet?
Maybe I'll never know, but that's just how it goes. I'm still counting this towards my yearly 48 because I did make an honest attempt and the time is spent.
I'm really falling in love with lavender though so I think there's more bee and flower paintings in my future!